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A Model of Situational Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the Study Abroad Context

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A Model of Situational Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the Study Abroad Context International Education Studies; Vol. 8, No. 10; 2015 ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education A Model of Situational Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the Study Abroad Context Graham Robson1 1 International Tourism Department, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence: Graham Robson, International Tourism Department, Toyo University, Hakusan 5-28-20, Bunkyo Ward, 112-8606 Tokyo, Japan. Tel: 81-03-3945-8264. E-mail: robson@toyo.jp Received: April 25, 2015 Accepted: May 30, 2015 Online Published: September 28, 2015 doi:10.5539/ies.v8n10p114 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n10p114 Abstract The use of structural modeling has helped to explain constructs leading to Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in L1 and L2 contexts. When WTC was conceptualized as a trait in the L1, more personality variables were used in models. When WTC moved into the realm of second language, researchers still used trait measurements to explain the construct, along with motivation and other communication-related variables. More recently, researchers recognize that WTC is also a situational variable and some researchers have created measurement tools accordingly. This study focuses on 67 students studying on a pre-university academic course in English and tests a structural model using classroom constructs as they are deemed the most important for communication in the classroom to predict WTC. Also, the model uses a teacher score to measure the relationship between self-report WTC and actual classroom communication. The model was found to have reasonable levels of fit, showing the importance of classroom variables in situational WTC in the second language context. Keywords: willingness to communicate, structural models, classroom constructs, study abroad 1. Introduction There is a distinction between second and foreign language settings that arises from more opportunities for interaction and communication in the second language context (Oxford & Shearin, 1994). However, it can be hard even for study abroad students to move beyond the classroom and use English actively in the L2 community. Therefore, the classroom reaffirms itself in both second and foreign language settings as an important place to conduct research, as it can offer the main, and sometimes only, interaction opportunity in the target language. Within the classroom, one of the major goals of learning should be to engender in learners a willingness to communicate, or WTC, (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998, p. 547). If learners can develop a willingness to communicate in class, they will hopefully take those habits outside the classroom and enact them in the real world. However, there are a number of different forces that act on the learner that may increase or decrease the learner’s willingness to communicate in the classroom. The concept of willingness to communicate (WTC) was originally conceived as a measure of how disposed native speakers of English were to engage voluntarily in classroom communication (McCroskey & Baer, 1985). This concept has also been investigated by second language researchers in many different contexts with many different age groups through the process of advanced statistical analyses, like Structural Equational Modeling (SEM). The benefits of employing SEM are that it can reduce measurement error, which is estimated and leaving only common variance in the model. SEM also allows the researcher to simultaneously examine the relationships of all the constructs specified in a model (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007, p. 679). This means that once the theory has been formulated in a model for testing, the model can be retested to improve the reliability and strength of relationship among the key constructs. The SEM research conducted in the field of WTC has tended to see the construct as a trait, hypothesizing WTC as stable across different situations and with different interlocutors, relying heavily on L1 trait instruments. However, recently starting with MacIntyre et al. (1998), WTC has been reconceptualized as a situational construct (Kang, 2005; Peng & Woodrow, 2010). Currently the number of studies that have employed situational variables in WTC models is small. By continuing to use trait measurements for situational models, the validity of 114 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 8, No. 10; 2015 any results can be called into question. In order to better understand the forces that impact on learning in the classroom in a particular situation, which can shape the WTC of a learner, more models are needed that make use of situational variables (Weaver, 2010). 2. Literature Review This short literature review addresses how WTC has been researched in models in the L1 and L2 contexts. 2.1 WTC Models in the L1 WTC was originally conceptualized as a personality-based predisposition (McCroskey & Baer, 1985) in L1 speakers of English. Therefore, models of WTC in the L1 were developed through a hierarchy of antecedents starting with personality traits and moved towards more communication-related variables, like Communication Apprehension and Perceived Competence (MacIntyre, 1994; MacIntyre, Babin, & Clément, 1999). 2.2 L2 Models Employing Trait WTC Many of the models first created to describe WTC in the second language used an L1 measure of WTC created by McCroskey and Baer (1985), seeing WTC as a trait variable. The models of trait WTC were heavily influenced by the Socio-Educational model (Gardner, 1985), which described attitudes and integrative reasons for studying English concerned with the desire to meet persons from the second language community, as well as attitudes toward the second language community. Studies found that motivation and communication variables were powerful and significant predictors of WTC (Hashimoto, 2002; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). Moving from second language to foreign language setting, the Intergrative orientation was revised into International Posture (Yashima, 2002), a construct consisting of Interest in Foreign Affairs, Interest in Working Abroad, Cultural Friendship (similar to integrative motivation), and Approach/Avoidance of L2 English. Studies found that students with higher levels of International Posture also had significantly higher levels of WTC in the foreign language setting (Kim, 2004; Yashima, 2002; Yashima, Zenuke-Nishide, & Shimizu, 2004). 2.3 Situational WTC in the Second Language Whereas trait-like WTC, as described in the L1 literature, has the potential to affect people in all communication settings, there are certain situational constraints that affect what happens in a given situation. As far back as 1994, MacIntyre proposed that future researchers should combine personality variables with situational variables to measure WTC (p. 140). To this end, one of the first major models of L2 WTC (MacIntyre et al. 1998), and one that would greatly influence second language research, treated WTC as both a mixture of “transient and enduring influences” (p. 546). MacIntyre et al. (1998) proposed a number of personalities, affective and situational constructs that fit into a theoretical model with six layers (see Figure 1). At the bottom of the model are layers that are more trait-like and enduring in nature, like Personality and Intergroup Attitudes. At the top of the model more changeable situational factors appear such as the Desire to Communicate with a Specific Person and the Self-Confidence of the speaker at the time of communication. These variables are hypothesized to lead to WTC, and to lead eventually to the amount of communication undertaken by the learner, as expressed by L2 Use in the model. By hypothesizing WTC in this way, the researchers claimed that WTC can be used to address pedagogical concerns, such as why some students speak in language classes, while others do not. This will lead to a deeper understanding of important factors influencing classroom communication (p. 558). There are a number of issues in WTC research which are still being addressed, two of which are the use of situational constructs to explain statistical models and whether a student’s WTC will actually be indicative of how much a student communicates. 115 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 8, No. 10; 2015 Figure 1. Heuristic model of variables influencing WTC (Macintyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998, p. 547). 2.4 L2 Models Employing Situational WTC A number of L2 researchers have used more situated variables. Along with MacIntyre et al. (1998), Wen and Clément (2003) hypothesized that mediating Desire and Willingness to Communicate are factors that MacIntyre et al. (1998) proposed to be more distant from the communication event. These include the Social Context, including In-Group Identity and Group Cohesiveness, and Teacher Involvement; affective perceptions such as Self-Confidence in communication (inhibited monitor) and expectation that the task undertaken will receive a positive evaluation. The two theoretical models were not data-driven, but influenced subsequent situational WTC models (Kang, 2005; Peng & Woodrow, 2010). Other quantitative researchers began using measurements that reflected what happened in the classroom. Matsuoka (2005) tested a structural model with 164 Japanese students. Her model predicted WTC would be determined by International Posture and Self-Efficacy, which was hypothesized to be comprised of Motivational Intensity and Perceived Competence. Self-Efficacy, a measure of a student’s judgment of their own abilities,
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